Life Goes On
by ffdrake
Summary: How do you move on with life when everything is so hard? Simple, find someone to live it with. Rated for language. Summary not very good but please read and review.
1. Cloud

**Okay so I got FFVII Advent Children Complete a couple of days ago, awesome movie by the way, and I watch through the Legacy of FFVII and I got this idea to write this, so here we go. Like it, hate leave a review and let me know. Final Fantasy does not belong to me blah blah blah.**

**Life Goes On**

"Pick up the phone! Are you screening your calls? Head over to Barret's as soon as you get this, okay? You have no new messages."

Cloud flipped his phone closed after hearing the message. What could Yuffie want that she need him to go out of his way to see Barret. Shaking his head he pocketed his phone and straddled his bike. Starting it up he headed out on the road again. He did have deliveries that had to be in on time and other things that he needed to do for the WRO.

It had been a year and a half since the deal with Kadaj, and then six months since the Deep ground incident. During the year in a half Cloud had made what many considered to be leaps and bounds in his personality. He started to work less, and talk to his friends more. He even broke down and cried once, to his humiliation though it was right in front of Tifa. Although her reaction was not what he had expected, instead of walking away or trying to talk to him, she just simply held him while he let his heart out.

He still had not admitted his feelings to her, it took him until just before the Deep ground incident to admit that his heart had always belong to Tifa and not Aerith. Of course by that time Deep ground made their move and he had no time to actually talk to her. After the incident was over he suddenly got call after call from Reeve at the WRO to work for them. He eventually agreed, but this took him away from Tifa and the kids for weeks at a time.

Of course the biggest blow came to him two months ago when Tifa announced that she had a date that she was set up on by one of the women in town. Cloud had never been so depressed in his entire life. He knew that he should be happy for his friend, but he could not accept the fact that Tifa might end up with someone other than him. Luckily for him though, that night ended in horror for her date.

_Flashback_

_Cloud was sitting in a barstool in the Seventh Heaven waiting for Tifa to come home from her date. He still could not believe that she was actually out with someone and it wasn't him. Of course he knew that he had nowhere to complain. He had the past two years to make his move on his best friend and he had done everything in his power to push her away._

_Picking up the bottle of whisky that he was drinking he skipped the shot glass and took a big glup from the warm liquid. He had laid Denzel and Marlene down a half an hour after Tifa left and since that time he had been sitting at the bar drinking away his sorrows. The sound of the bar door slamming open almost caused him to fall off of his stool. Turning around he saw Tifa march right into the bar with a determined look on her face. '_Oh please tell me that the date did not go well_,' Cloud wished._

_Tifa came right up to him and sat down in the bar stool right beside him. "Cloud, be a pal and pour me one of those would you?" She asked him without even looking._

_Picking up his unused shot glass he filled it half full of liquor and passed it to her. Slamming down the shot she passed the glass back to him and waved for another. After filling her glass for the third time she finally set her glass down. He knew that it was a dumb question to ask, but Cloud could not help himself. "Did something go wrong with your date tonight Tifa?"_

_The barmaid shook her head. "Yes, that guy was a complete bastard I have no idea why Liz set me up with him. God, what a fucking jerk."_

_Cloud looked at his friend; she had never used language like that before in her entire life. Now he was nervous about what happened to her. "What went wrong Tifa?" The liquor must have been getting to him, he had never asked her two questions in a row before._

_"It was just some of the things he did and said and implied. Can you believe that ass actually bought a hotel room for the night? Said something like, 'Oh hey, as long as we are here how about we have some good fun in this hotel room I got'. God I cannot believe him."_

_"What happened then?" Three questions, damn he must have had more to drink than he thought._

_"I knocked his lights out and left him on the side walk near the hotel he was trying to bring me too." She answered calmly._

_Cloud had to raise his hand to his lips to hide his smile. He felt bad for Tifa that the guy had turned out to be a total dick, but he was glad because that meant he could have another chance to be with Tifa. "And besides," she continued, "he was not what I was looking for."_

_Cloud felt a sudden coldness wash over him. Oh no, what if he was not what she wanted. But before he could ask her what she meant she got up and headed over to the stairs. "Well I do not know about you Cloud, but I am dead tired. I will see you in the morning for breakfast right?"_

_End Flashback_

His phone ringing in his pocket pulled him out of his thoughts. Being careful so the bike would not tip over he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "Hello."

"What do you know, he picked up." He heard Cid's excited voice over the phone.

"Yes."

"Yuffie was crabbing about you not answering."

Cloud sighed. In truth he was kind of avoiding Yuffie, but that was mainly because she was way too hyper for him on the phone. "Yeah, I've been busy."

"That's nice. I'm supposed to tell you to head over to Barret's place."

"I'm booked today," he tried to reason.

"Look," he could hear Cid getting angrier by the second, "just show up! I don' want any part of all this!"

Cloud sighed in defeat. "Alright Cid I will try and make it over there by the end of the day."

"Alright, well good hearing from ya man. See ya."

Closing his phone Cloud concentrated on the road ahead of him. '_Great,'_ he thought, _'now I am going to be late on getting back to Edge, and I really wanted to see Tifa and the kids before they all went to sleep.'_

He hoped that they would all understand. Over the past few months he had made it a point to arrive home before dinner time in order to spend time with the kids. They really seemed to enjoy his company. He knew that they would be upset about him not being there, but he was more worried about what Tifa would think.

Ever since Tifa had gone out on that date he had made it a point to spend time with all of them, even if it was just an hour before the kids went to bed. In all reality he was trying to impress Tifa, but deep down he was trying to reconnect with his family. He had missed out on so much with all of them because he had been wallowing in self pity.

But Tifa had always been there for him, even if he did not want her to see him. She had never given up on him and that was one of the many traits that she had that led him to love her. Yes he could admit it, he loved his best friend. Whenever he looked into his future he could not see himself with anyone else.

Between the Deep Ground incident and Tifa's date the two had settled into a kind of relationship that would be expected of two roommates. They hung out sometimes and made jokes, but that was about it. They never really did anything outside of the bar. No, strike that, they never left the bar to go out and do something. He had assumed that being a roommate with her was what he wanted, what he needed. But ever since she went out on that damn date his mind changed in a flash.

He wanted to grab her and hold on to her and never let go. He wanted to yell to the whole world that she was his and no one else's. So why didn't he do it? Simple, he was scared. He finally had a complete family, as strange as it might be, and he did not want to risk any chance in ruining it.

After another two hours on the road he had finally finished up all of his deliveries and he headed off in the direction of Barret's house. Soon his phone began to vibrate again. Once again he reached into his pocket and pulled out the black phone. This time it was Vincent who was calling him. Opening the phone he held it up to his hear. "Hello."

"I have a message from Yuffie," the ex-turk said, "get over to Barret's."

Cloud just shook his head. What the hell was so important over at Barret's house that not only had she called, but then she managed to rope both Cid and Vincent into calling him. "I'm on my way now."

"And give Yuffie this message from me," Vincent's voice turned to ice, "this is my phone. She has no right to call it."

"I'll let her know."

And with that the line went dead. The ex-soldier just shrugged, Vincent was not really one for talking much. Although after the Deep ground Vincent had gone through the same kind of transition that Cloud had gone through after the remnants. Although Vincent told Cloud to let Yuffie know that she was not call him again, Cloud knew that this was just in jest. Vincent looked after Yuffie just like she was his daughter and more recently perhaps a little more than that.

Seeing Barret's house in the distance he began to slow down his bike. In truth it was not a house but an oil rig. Barret had found oil, an alternative fuel source to Mako in these mountains and had set up camp. This was the main reason that Marlene had come to live with him and Tifa. As Barret put it, an oil rig was no place for a child to be.

The path ahead was very narrow and had many tight turns and it would not do him well to end up in the hospital right now. Upon reaching the house he put his bike into park on the side of the road and mad e the short walk to the small house where Barret lived. Reaching up he knocked on the door. "Yeah just a minute." He heard the big man say from the other side of the door.

Soon enough Barret came out of his small shack and greeted him. "Hey Spiky how's it been?"

"Work with the delieveries, then over to the WRO to help out with any problems they may have. I have not had a chance to take a break ever since Deep ground attack."

"I've been waiting!" The big man continued. "I've got some work for you."

He gave Cloud two packages. "Deliver this to Marlene," he pointed to the one with a pink ribbon on it, "and this one to Denzel. And this one here, it's for you from Yuffie."

Ah, so that is why Yuffie wanted him to come over here so bad. She had something for him. More than likely some new type of material that she was too afraid to try out. "What's inside," he asked?

"She didn't say."

Shrugging his shoulders he grabbed hold of the paper on the box and began ripping it off to see what was inside. Barret oblivious to his actions just kept on talking. "You'll just have to open it and—Whoa, what's the hurry."

Opening the box the rest of the way, he pulled out what was inside of it. "What the hell," Barret said looking at the gift, "it's a 'Closed for Business' sign."

Cloud did nothing to hide the small smile that spread across his face when looking at the hand made sign. How the hell did that little ninja always know what was running through his mind? "Thank you Barret," he said shaking hands with the big guy, "I will give these to the kids. I will see you around."

Cloud turned back to his bike and heard Barret yelling behind him. "Hey Cloud, you better be treatin Tifa alright. Things have been quite for a while you know?"

Cloud did not want to really hear the end of what Barret had to say so he fired up his bike after the gifts were secure and left the area.

After about an hour on the road he pulled over to the side. He still had another half an hour until he reached Midgar where he had a few things he needed to drop off, then another twenty minutes to home in Edge. But everything that he had been thinking on this trip, then Yuffie's gift, then what Barret said finally came to him. Damn, was this all obvious to everyone but him what he should do right now.

Reaching over he grabbed his phone and dialed a number that he had been scared of calling. After a few rings he heard his angle pick up the other end of the line. "Cloud, is that you?" Her voice sounded unsure of itself.

"Yeah, it's me." He answered.

"How much longer are you going to be out there Cloud, I thought you would be back by now."

"All I've got left are the Midgar Deliveries. Why did a client come in?"

Great all he needed was more business right now. "Yes they did, they said that they are looking for you to go to Fort Condor tomorrow."

"Tell them no. I'm taking tomorrow off."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "What for Cloud?"

"No reason. Hey, Tifa can you close the bar tomorrow?"

"Yeah sure Cloud, no problem."

"That was easy."

"Of course it is easy to close for a day when you are the owner Cloud."

"Okay. Tell Denzel and Marlene."

"I will Cloud."

"I'll see you later."

"Yup, bye Cloud."

When the line went dead he brought his hand down and stared at his phone not fully believing what he had just done. He had just cancelled a client and then asked if Tifa wanted to spend tomorrow with him. Okay maybe he did no use those specific words, but that was what he was hoping for.

Starting back on his bike he raced towards Midgar. He had finally begun to move on with his life. This was the first step in that direction. With new found energy he pushed the bike to go even faster. Nothing could ruin this moment right now.

**Like it, hate it, please review and let me know what you think. Still two more parts to this story coming up.**


	2. Tifa

**Alrighty here we go with Chapter 2, hope y'all enjoy it.**

Setting down a clean glass Tifa picked up another one that needed to be wiped down. This had been her routing ever since Edge had been established. She would wake up in the morning, make breakfast for the kids, and send them off to school. Once the kids were gone she would begin preparations to open the bar. Usually that involved cleaning glasses for preparing some food that was going to be served that night.

One of the good things about this early morning work was that it left her to think. This could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you looked at it. Like most days her thoughts drifted automatically to a certain blonde haired swordsman.

It had been three and a half years since they had first saved the world from meteor. Once Sephiroth had been defeated, all of the hero's went their separate ways. Yuffie went back to Wutai, Vincent went back to his coffin to sleep, Cid went back to Rocket Town, and Cait Sith went back to Reeve. Barret had stayed with her and Marlene for a time, but then he discovered that there was an alternative fuel source to Mako, and he went out to find it, leaving Marlene in his care.

However her main concern was where Cloud would go. She knew that even though he was considered a hero he was still suffering. Everything he thought he was since they began their journey was a lie. He never made it into solider, and he felt as if he had failed to protect one of their friends even though it was not his fault. She still remembered very well the conversation she had with Cloud that eventually convinced him to stay with her.

_

* * *

Flashback_

_Holy and the lifestream had finally repelled meteor and now the hero's were trying to figure out where they were going to go from here. All of them had made their decision except for one. Tifa looked over to where Cloud was sitting on the bridge of the ship away from the others. He seemed very deep in thought._

_Walking over to him she sat down next to him, back to the wall and did not say anything. She had learned long ago that you could not really push Cloud into a conversation. You had to start out slow and work your way into it. Finally after a few minutes of her sitting next to him she decided to break the ice. "So it is finally over isn't Cloud." _

_He nodded at her comment but did not say anything._

_Trying to get him to talk to her she thought of another question which had been bugging her for a while. "So what are you going to do now Cloud? With everything done with."_

_To this he did turn his head to look at her. "I am not sure. Everything I thought I was is a lie, most of my life that I remember is not my own but Zack's. I honestly do not know what I am to do anymore."_

"_You know Cloud, we are all here for you," she waved her hand towards their friends, "and no matter what happens we will always be by your side and help you."_

_Once again he went mute and just nodded to her statement. God sometimes this man could drive her insane. Did he not realize that they did not care that his past was mostly a lie? They all care for the man that he is now, not the man that he thought he was. "Cloud," she said drawing his attention back to her, "do you know where you are going to live now?"_

_Cloud scratched his head. "I am not sure. I have no home to go back to right now."_

"_Yes you do Cloud."_

_He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. What do you mean?"_

_Right then she was tempted to slap her long term friend. Was he really that dense? "What I mean Cloud, is that you have a home with me. You are more than welcome to stay at the Seventh Heaven after we get it rebuilt."_

_Cloud pondered her suggestion for a while before he answered. "I might take you up on that offer Tifa."_

_End Flashback_

* * *

Of course it had taken them a month to even get the city of Edge going then another month before the Seventh Heaven was finished. Cloud stayed around for the reconstruction, but after the bar was complete he disappeared for several weeks. She was almost starting to give up on him, when out of the blue he showed up on her doorstep in the middle of the night asking her if her offer to allow him to stay with her was still good.

After he settled into his small room he found a job as a delivery boy. At first he did not go very far, but soon his business started to get such a good reputation that he was leaving Edge for days at a time. Then it came that he would not be home for a week or two., and even when he was home he still seemed very down about something, but he refused to talk to her about it.

Everything seemed to change the day that he brought Denzel home with him. She remembered well the day that Denzel stumbled upon Clouds bike and picked up his phone. Needless to say she was surprised that Cloud was calling her, but it was a small lost child. She asked Cloud to bring him home, and that was one of the changing points in Cloud. He had more than just Tifa to look after.

It wasn't long after Denzel was brought home that she discovered the pour child had geostigma. Shortly after that Cloud disappeared again, this time for an entire month. It took her going into Areith's church to discover that he had the stigma.

By that time the remnants came around and started reeking havoc on the peaceful city. That was another big turning point for Cloud. Perhaps that showed him that he was truly a hero and that many people depended on him.

Looking over at a picture hanging on the wall she felt a smile come to her face. It was taken just after the children had been healed. The whole group was there. Barret, Cid, Yuffie, Vincent, Cait Sith, herself, Red XIII, Marlene, Denzel, and Cloud. If you looked close enough at the picture you could actually see what looked like a smile on Cloud's face.

It was her favorite picture, and the only one that showed Cloud smiling.

Right after that incident though several strange things started to occur all over the world. People started to turn up missing with no trace of where they might have gone. Reeve talked to Cloud for a long time and finally got him to agree to work for the WRO sometimes. Ever since then Cloud started to disappear every now and then, but he still tried to spend some time with the kids.

This then led them to the deep ground incident. Tifa had been cleaning the bar when the first attack hit the city of Edge. Without waiting she grabbed her gloves, got the kids and hurried them out of the city. Luckily for them Cloud was home that day and he helped them get out.

Once she and Cloud found a safe place for both Denzel and Marlene the duo went to see Reeve about the recent attack. He had given them the info that he had, and then sent them on a mission to find out more information on the group. They could not find much, but eventually they were contacted by Reeve again who told them that the entire WRO army was preparing to charge Midgar, the base of operations for Deepground.

She was scared going into the battle, but not for herself. She was scared if something happened to either her or Cloud, how would Denzel and Marlene take it.

Luckily though the battle had gone extremely well, and deepground had been destroyed after Vincent had changed into Chaos.

After the battle was over and everyone started to settle down again, Cloud once again started to leave for long periods of time again. Whenever Cloud was gone Tifa felt this unbearable sense of something being misplaced, and when he came back the feeling went away. It did not take a lot to realize that she was lonely. That led her to one of the biggest mistakes of her life.

It was during one of the times that Cloud was gone that one of her friends from town set her up with a blind date. At first she was against it, but she eventually caved in from the pressure of her friend. She said his name was Jon and that she thought they had a lot in common. Finally when the night came she was nervously getting ready when Cloud came home.

He asked her where she was going, so she simply told him she was going on a date. His reaction though was something that she had never expected. He got mad. He did not show it, but she knew that he was upset about her going out with this guy. That made her feel extremely good, he really did care about her. Of course it was too late to cancel the date so she went out.

Jon himself was really not all that interesting of a person. He was extremely full of himself and always seemed to be flaunting his money. During the night he made two major mistakes that led her to knock his lights out.

The first occurred early in the date when he asked who the man was in the bar when he picked her up. She explained to him who he was and that he had been living with her for the past three years. Of course he made some comments then about how Cloud must be stupid to not try and pick her up, which she somewhat agreed too, but she could not allow this stranger to call her best friend an idiot.

The next mistake was the last straw. After they left the restaurant he told her that he had rented a hotel room and suggested that they go up and have some fun. She told him that she was not that kind of girl. To which he replied that perhaps a good screw might loosen her up and that he was just the man to give it to her the right way.

Well that earned him a black eye. Without even looking back at him she left her date passed out on the side walk. However she did realize one important thing during this date, that the person she tully wanted was Cloud and no one else. The rest of the night was kind of a blur, once she got home she found Cloud at the bar drinking some liquor. She pulled up next to him and asked him to pour her a shot. After that the two just sat there for awhile and talked.

After her date Cloud seemed to try and spend more time with her and the kids, but still his job as a delivery boy and as a WRO representative kept him away from home. Just thinking about him made her want him room right now. They hugged every now and then but they never kissed. Tifa knew that if Cloud ever gained the courage to kiss her, she would be lost, she would never let him go again.

She was so lost in the thought of kissing Cloud that when her phone rang it caused her to jump a few feet into the air. Looking down at the caller ID she was stunned to see that it was Cloud who was calling her. Opening the phone she held it to her ear. "Cloud, is that you?" Her voice sounded unsure of itself.

"Yeah, it's me." He answered.

"How much longer are you going to be out there Cloud, I thought you would be back by now."

"All I've got left are the Midgar Deliveries. Why did a client come in?"

She thought for a moment and remembered that a solider from the WRO had come in looking for Cloud to deliver something. "Yes they did, they said that they are looking for you to go to Fort Condor tomorrow."

"Tell them no. I'm taking tomorrow off."

This made her do a double take. Could was turning down a job offer? "What for Cloud?"

"No reason. Hey, Tifa can you close the bar tomorrow?"

Of course she could, she was the boss of it. "Yeah sure Cloud, no problem."

"That was easy."

"Of course it is easy to close for a day when you are the owner Cloud."

"Okay. Tell Denzel and Marlene."

"I will Cloud."

"I'll see you later."

"Yup, bye Cloud."

Once the line went dead she lowered the phone and stared at it. _Had Cloud Strife, her best friend and secret love just turn down work in order to spend time with me and the kids._ With a huge smile on her face she headed upstairs to tell Marlene and Denzel the good news. It seems like Cloud just might be ready to truly be part of the family.

**Well there you have it. Still have not decided how long this story is going to be, but be expecting at least two more chapters. I have training starting up soon, so my updates will be a little slower than this. Reveiws welcome as always.**


	3. Denzel

**Alright first and foremost I would like to apologize for the long wait in between chapters here. But between training and getting ready for college I have not had a whole lot of time to write. Anyway here we go with chapter 3.**

The next morning Denzel woke up more excited than any other time in his history. He was even more excited than the time that he was cured from the geostigma. He still remembered when Tifa told him what was going to happen today, and he still was having trouble believing that this was really going to happen.

_

* * *

Flashback_

_"Denzel, what are you doing tomorrow?" Tifa asked walking into his small room that he shared with Marlene._

_Looking up from his homework he looked at his adoptive mother. Of course she was not officially his mother yet, but he had always hoped and still hoped that one day she would be his mother. "Nothing that I know of. I might be meeting some friends from my school."_

_That was a lie. He was not meeting anyone. His only friend was Marlene and she was over at a friend's house for the night. "Well," Tifa said sitting down on his bed, "what would you say if I told you that Cloud wants to spend time with us tomorrow. Perhaps we can convince him to go out with us somewhere?"_

_Denzel was frozen stiff. Cloud was coming home? And he wanted to spend the whole day with Tifa, and him? "What about Marlene? Is she invited too?"_

_"Of course she is silly. What kind of a family outing would it be if she did not come with us?"_

_Denzel could no longer hold in his excitement. Dropping his homework he ran over to Tifa and practically tackled her onto the bed. Engulfing her in the biggest hug that he could manage. Tifa just laughed at his antics. "Hahaha, it looks like someone is excited about tomorrow aren't you?"_

_Of course he was. He was finally starting to be part of a whole family again._

_About two hours later, while he was still trying to finish up all of his homework, Cloud finally walked into the bar. "Hey Cloud," he heard Tifa call from the bar room, "I did not expect you back for at least another hour or so."_

_As soon as he heard Cloud's name he got up and started running down the stairs. "Yeah I know, I wanted to finish up making all the deliveries so I went alit-"_

_His sentence was cut off as Denzel came bounding into the bar and leapt into his arms. He started bombarding Cloud with questions but could not help himself he was just too excited. "Where are we going tomorrow Cloud? How long are we going to stay? What are we going to eat? Are we going to a park?"_

_Question after question pour through his lips and eventually Tifa cut him off. "We still have to figure that one out Denzel. But where would you want to go? And remember Marlene is coming with us too."_

_Thinking for a moment, Denzel thought of a place that was perfect, and better yet was that he and Marlene wanted to go there at some point and time. There was a new amusement park had been recently built near the city of Edge. It was not as big or elaborate as Gold Saucer, but it still looked like it could be a good time. "Can we go to the new park? I know Marlene really wants to go also." He said to his two adoptive parents giving them the best puppy dog look he could manage._

_Cloud looked up at Tifa who just shrugged. "This is your thing Cloud," Tifa told him, "it is up too you."_

_Cloud looked down at Denzel. For a moment he was afraid that Cloud would turn him down. But then the slightest smirk came to his lips. "Alright Denzel. We will go to this new park tomorrow."_

_"ALRIGHT WHOA." Denzel started to jump up and down and hugging Cloud. "Thank you Cloud, thank you, thank you, thank you. I gotta go tell Marlene about this."_

_And with that he ran out of the house to tell Marlene._

_End Flashback_

* * *

Looking over at the other bed in his room he saw that Marlene was still sleeping. She had been almost as excited as him last night after he told her where they were off to today. Rushing over to her bed he jumped up and slammed down right next to her scaring her awake. "COME ON MARLENE, WE ARE GOING TO THE PARK TODAY IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP!"

Shooting out of bed Marlene immediately ran to her dresser, grabbed some cloths and ran across the hall and into the bathroom before Denzel could say anything else. It was not until she was out of the room that he realized his problem. He really had to use the bathroom, and Marlene always took forever whenever she was in there.

But even that fact was not enough to disrupt this day. He was finally going out with his new family. And now they were almost a complete family. He could not wait for the day when he could actually call Tifa his mother, and Cloud his father.

Walking down the stairs he was about to enter the kitchen area, but he could hear both Tifa and Cloud talking in there. His sneaky side kicking in he decided to wait a moment to try and hear what they were saying. Unfortunately for him, they voices were too low to actually hear anything.

After the voices stopped he decided that now was the best time to walk into the kitchen, and when he did he received the surprise of a life time. There was Cloud and Tifa, standing in the middle of the kitchen with their arms locked around each other and their lips locked together.

For a moment he was torn between shouting for joy, or leaving the two alone. Eventually his better judgment won out on him and he back away slowly, making sure that he did not make a sound. Marlene was going to ecstatic when she heard about this. It looked like the day he could call Cloud and Tifa his official parents, was in fact closer than he had imagined.

**Not the longest chapter ever, but I felt as if I needed to get something out on this one. Please review I really appreciate your feedback on writing. We'll see ya in the next chapter.**


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